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Rosetta blasts off at last

Europe’s comet-chasing spacecraft, Rosetta, is finally on its way after lifting off into the tropical skies of Kourou, French Guiana, on Tuesday.

The successful launch of the billion-euro mission will come as a relief to both the European Space Agency (ESA) and to Arianespace, manufacturer of the Ariane-5 launch rocket.

ESA is hoping to trump NASA with the ambitious mission, which will go into orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014, then send a lander down onto its icy surface. Meanwhile Arianespace, which already cost the mission a year’s delay after one of its rockets self-destructed, needs to prove its reliability …